Her way of doing this was somewhat peculiar. She had been so
used to buying things of itinerant vendors in the streets abroad that
she could not break herself of the habit in England. So, instead of
going to a toy shop, she used to take a four-wheel cab, and drive slowly
down Oxford Street and Regent Street; and whenever she came across a
pedlar with toys on a tray, she would pull up her cab and make her
purchases. These purchases generally took a good deal of time, for
Lady Burton had been so much in the habit of dealing at bazars in the
East that she was always under the impression that the pedlars in
England asked double or treble what they really thought they would get.
The result was a good deal of bargaining between her and the vendors.
She used to make wholesale purchases; and during her bargaining,
which was carried on with much animation, a crowd assembled, and
not infrequently the younger members of it came in for a share of
the spoils.
To the day of her death she always felt strongly on the subject of
the prevention of cruelty to animals, and indeed engaged in a fierce
controversy with Father Vaughan on the subject of vivisection. She
was never tired of denouncing the "barbarism of bearing-reins," and
so forth. When she went out in a cab, she invariably inspected the
horse carefully first, to see if it looked well fed and cared for; if
not, she discharged the cab and got another one, and she would always
impress upon the driver that he must not beat his horse under any
consideration when he was driving her.
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